UnitedHealth's stock surges to pace Dow gainers; CEO spent more than $900,000 to buy company stock

Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH, +3.69% surged 3.1% in afternoon trade Monday, enough to pace the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s DJIA, -0.25% gainers, as the health care sector was one of the just 2 of the S&P 500’s SPX, -0.45% 11 sectors that are gaining ground. The Dow was down 128 points, with 23 of 30 components losing ground, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF XLV, +0.51% edged up 0.2% with 25 of 62 components gaining ground. Earlier Monday, UnitedHealth disclosed that Chief Executive David Wichmann spent $904,366.88 to buy 20,000 of the company’s stock at an average price of $231.7865 as early as Friday. The stock was now trading around $239.12.

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